She painstakingly built a new operating system for a dated office, but when ungrateful coworkers berated her at every turn, she packed her bags and took everything with her… And I mean, everything, including the new interface she had built.
It’s hard not to take pride in your work, no matter what. Good workers pour their heart and soul into their job regardless of how much they hate their boss, loathe their coworkers, and dread every single weekday alarm. It doesn’t matter if you despise the workplace; giving anything less than 100% of your best effort feels wrong somehow and drags the workday mood even lower than you ever imagined possible. That’s why we keep doing it, giving our work every ounce of skill we have to offer, because if we stopped trying at our jobs, they would become more meaningless than ever.
Then again, this is how a lot of unprecedented changes come about in the workplace. To every CEO’s delight, employees who work hard will inevitably create value, making improvised improvements to company workflow, creating interfaces that make daily jobs easier, and contributing in ways never thought possible by the boss-coded brains at the top. No wonder they start looking at their employees like they’re “family.” Despite ourselves, we keep giving our best effort at the office, regardless of work conditions, underpayment, and under-appreciation from our managers and coworkers, just like a family would.
Likewise, when I started my last job, an office employee for an event rental company, I came into the workplace with bright eyes, a bushy tail, and an itch to make things better than when I’d arrived. New hires have that sparkle to them sometimes, entering the workforce with uncompromised positivity and an air of naivety that makes the jaded tenures pop a vessel in their foreheads. But it’s these types of employees, the savagely optimistic, who come in and shake up the status quo a bit, making updates that never occurred to anyone else and streamlining the entire company machine. At least, when I was at my last job, that’s what I managed to do. I brought in new clients, I updated our interior communication systems, and I found myself craving the praise for each improvement. Would I have continued to give it my all without the praise? Sure, but it certainly felt good to put a gold star on my chest and hold a thumbs up to the big boss.
Alas, the more you give, the more companies take; that’s simple economics.
Giving every ounce of your effort and soul to a job takes its toll, especially when it goes unnoticed or unrewarded. At a certain point, workers need a standing ovation or a bonus to reflect their hard work, lest they become jaded like the other lackadasicals in the office. Yet, I hope I never become like the tired, insecure employees of the world who have given up on their best. I hope to pour my best into every day at work, regardless of the outcome, because if I don’t try, then there’s no point to it all, right?
Perhaps the office coordinator in this next story felt as if her best efforts weren’t being appreciated, which is entirely fair because Linda in accounting never missed an opportunity to make her feel small. But even after years of improving the company workflow and improving their operating system line-by-line and code-by-code, arrogant Linda was still stuck in her ways and unable to adapt. Well, when the all-star employee reached her breaking point, she decided to grant Linda’s every wish, reverting their office system back to the heinously outdated protocol that Linda so desperately loved, walking out on her last day with chaos in her wake and a smile on her face. Maybe her next job will appreciate her efforts a little more.
Author: Kayitsi.com
